Allied Coop News…

Or… We interrupt our trip reportage to bring you timely news from the Allied Community Coop

I’ll get back to reporting on the rest of my UK (then Chicago!) trip very soon, but in the meantime…

Right when I returned home I went to help facilitate another Allied Community Coop discussion about how we can respond to the food crisis in the neighborhood by applying mutual aid principles and practices.

We made a great plan! First, we’ll pursue finding money to help pay for people’s cab rides and other transportation to grocery stores, and Aaron Perry of Neighborhood Intervention Program (NIP) will provide 2 bus rides per month to people who want to shop that way.

Meanwhile, we’ll work with Willy Street Coop to start a buying club. Ideally the City of Madison would provide space for a neighborhood center which could serve as a staging and delivery area for the buying club. And this will help us build capacity to create our own neighborhood-created -owned and -operated cooperative grocery store and pharmacy, our long-term goal.

Today we’ll testify at the City Council meeting, in support of Ald. Maurice Cheeks’ resolution directing city staff to work on the issue of a grocery store and economic development plan in Allied Drive. We’re ready to try our ideas for human-scaled community economic development!

Help the MAN out

Testimonials:

The best part of my job as Creative Director of Mutual Aid Networks is reminding people that we can dream bigger and better than we’re used to, that we don’t need to be bound by a scarcity mindset, and working together we can make our big dreams into reality.
- Stephanie Rearick, Madison, WI